Wander Lost

Film Fest Circuit: ‘Last Wild Race’

If you’re in Colorado this weekend and happen to be heading to the Breckenridge Film Festival, held this year June 9 – 12, be sure and put “The Last Wild Race” on your schedule. This independent film produced by Stjepan Pavicic, race founder and director of Nomadas Outdoor Services, and co-directed by Brian Leitten, will be making a debut at the fest.

“The Last Wild Race” — full name, “The 2011 Wenger Patagonian Expedition Race: The Last Wild Race” — covers the weeklong adventure race through Chile that Team GearJunkie raced in earlier this year. (We documented the experience on a micro-site here, including videos, photos, and a blog live from the event; also, the film was shot with the assistance of several Gear Junkie-associated cameramen in Chile who worked with the production crew.)

For the film, here is the official description: Fifty-six adventurers from across the globe converge on Chilean Patagonia for the 9th edition of the Wenger Patagonian Expedition Race. For 10 days, 14 teams will test themselves in an unforgiving wilderness of fierce winds, icy rivers and impenetrable forests. This 44-minute film follows the teams as they trek, kayak and bike over 600 kilometers in the last wild race on the planet.

I can attest it was all that and more. Team GearJunkie, which took 2nd place this year, takes a center stage in the film. We got an advance copy of the film from the director, and I will say it was quite epic here to relive the expedition through this film!

The Breckenridge Film Festival is but one stop on a world tour this film are taking. Last month, “The Last Wild Race” won the Adventure Sport category at the Killarney Adventure Film Festival in Ireland. The film was chosen as a finalist at the New Zealand Mountain Film Festival this summer. If you can’t make one of these showings, the film will be for sale soon as a DVD. Here’s the trailer for a sneak peek at the action. Check me out crazy and out of my mind at about 42 seconds into the trailer. (Voice: “Where are we Stephen?” Me: “I have no clue.”) I was so zonked here, one of the lowest physical points of my racing career. Happy it was caught on film for all to see!

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Stephen Regenold is Founder and Editor-In-Chief of GearJunkie, which he launched as a nationally-syndicated newspaper column in 2002. As a journalist and writer, Regenold has covered the outdoors industry for nearly two decades, including as a correspondent for the New York Times. A father of four small kids, Regenold and his wife live in Minneapolis.